Culture is the collective sum of knowledge experi Essays

Culture is the collective sum of knowledge experi Essays Culture is the collective sum of "knowledge experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions" learned by a specific group of people, well-defined by everything from "language, religion, cuisine, habits, music and arts." It is a "learned behavior" and is "socially transmitted," or more briefly, behavior through "social learning." It can also be defined as a "way of life" of a group of people and that are spread along by the means of "communication and imitation" from one generation to the next. "There are approximately 370 million Indigenous people in the world, belonging to 5,000different groups, in 90 countries worldwide. Indigenous people live in every region of the world, but about 70% of them live in Asia." (Wikipedia). Indigenous Peoples manage to live a "nomadic life" and have "small populations" comparative to the "prevailing culture of their country."They normally have their "own language and distinctive cultural traditions which are still practiced." "Indigenous Peoples are often thought of as the primary stewards of the planet's biological resources." Their modes of life have "contributed to the preservation of the natural environment" on which they "depend" on. "Indigenous societies are found in every inhabitedclimate zoneandcontinentof the world"(Wikipedia). The article is related to the " World Indigenous Games a multi-sport event involving indigenous athletes that was first staged in 2015 which was held in Palmas,Brazil , from October 23 to November 1, 2015 " and feature d " competitive sports and non-competitive demonstration events. " With delegations from as far afield as Ethiopia and New Zealand and two dozen indigenous peoples from across Brazil, the games produced nine frenetic days of competition in traditional sports, dancing, singing, commercial and cultural exchange and a dose of politics. Despite language barriers, tips were traded, stories swapped and traditional accoutrements traded. The next edition of the games will be held in Canada in 2017. Much of the criticism is due to a government proposal that would give the country's legislative branch, which is influenced by agricultural lobbies, the power to define indigenous lands, many of which are home to valuable natural resources. The Games were supported by the United Nations Development Program, reflecting the past several decades' movement toward advocating for indigenous peoples on a global platform, recognizing the common experiences of land loss, colonization, and discrimination that connect groups from the Sami in Finland to Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. In 2007, the General Assembly passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, treated as a watershed moment despite its lack of binding agreements. Even so, Canada, Australia, the United States, and New Zealand voted against it, the only member states to do so. But time will tell if future "Native Olympics'"have the power to change viewers' idea of indigenous people. The Games reveal "tensions between celebration and objectification,"Pablo Medina Uribe wrote in a piece for Fusion, a dilemma evident in some descriptions of the athletes: "Brazil's buffed-out, face-painted indigenous women reportedly strike fear in rivals' hearts,"one report noted.Another described participantsas "Supersized Maori from New Zealand, diminutive Aeta from the Philippines and native peoples of all shapes and sizes in between." As the Games draw to a close today, the competition has proven to be just as much about politics and PR as strength or speed. "Our life is not a game," one protester's sign reminded photographers perhaps before he dashed off to the next event. Few sporting pleasures can rival that of the post-victory brag. Shortly after the Kuikoro had seen off their Amazonian rivals, the Karaja , in arguably the most hotly anticipated event of the first World Games for Indigenous Peoples , the tug-of-war, one of the athletes could not resist emphasising the ease of their 40-second victory. Indigenous Games 2015 kick off in Brazil - in pictures View gallery "It was really simple," Pique Kuikoro said. "To win, you just have to stay prepared, breathe at the right time and keep your feet planted in the sand." Not all the games at this nine-day event in Palmas, a sleepy city in the sweltering agricultural heartland of Brazil , are quite so straightforward. There's football, of course, and archery, but also spear-throwing, log-carrying and xiknahiti

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, Civil War Surgeon

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, Civil War Surgeon Mary Edwards Walker was an unconventional woman. She was a proponent of womens rights and dress reform- especially the wearing of Bloomers which didnt enjoy wide currency until the  sport of bicycling  became popular. In 1855 she became one of the earliest female physicians upon graduation from Syracuse Medical College. She married Albert Miller, a fellow student, in a ceremony that did not include a promise to obey; she did not take his name, and to her wedding wore trousers and a dress-coat. Neither the marriage nor their joint medical practice lasted long. At the start of the Civil War, Dr. Mary E. Walker volunteered with the Union Army and adopted mens clothing. She was at first not allowed to work as a physician, but as a nurse and as a spy. She finally won a commission as an army surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland, 1862. While treating civilians, she was taken prisoner by the Confederates and was imprisoned for four months until she was released in a prisoner exchange. Her official service record reads: Dr. Mary E. Walker (1832 - 1919) Rank and organization: Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon (civilian), U. S. Army. Places and dates: Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861 Patent Office Hospital, Washington, D.C., October 1861 Following Battle of Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Tennessee September 1863 Prisoner of War, Richmond, Virginia, April 10, 1864 - August 12, 1864 Battle of Atlanta, September 1864. Entered service at: Louisville, Kentucky Born: 26 November 1832, Oswego County, N.Y. In 1866, the London Anglo-American Times wrote this of her: Her strange adventures, thrilling experiences, important services and marvelous achievements exceed anything that modern romance or fiction has produced.... She has been one of the greatest benefactors of her sex and of the human race. After the Civil War, she worked primarily as a writer and lecturer, usually appearing dressed in a mans suit and top hat. Dr. Mary E. Walker was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for her Civil War service, in an order signed by President Andrew Johnson on November 11, 1865. When, in 1917, the government revoked 900 such medals, and asked for Walkers medal back, she refused to return it and wore it until her death two years later. In 1977 President Jimmy Carter restored her medal posthumously, making her the first woman to hold a Congressional Medal of Honor. Early Years Dr. Mary Walker was born in Oswego, New York. Her mother was Vesta Whitcom and her father was Alvah Walker, both originally from Massachusetts and descended from early Plymouth settlers who had first moved to Syracuse in a covered wagon and then to Oswego. Mary was the fifth of five daughters at her birth. and another sister and a brother would be born after her.   Alvah Walker was trained as a carpenter who, in Oswego, was settling into a farmers life. Oswego was a place where many became abolitionists including neighbor Gerrit Smith and supporters of womens rights. The womens rights convention of 1848 was held in upstate New York. The Walkers supported the growing abolitionism, and also such movements as health reform and temperance.   The agnostic speaker Robert Ingersoll was Vestas cousin.   Mary and her siblings were raised religiously, though rejecting the evangelism of the time and not associating with any sect. Everyone in the family worked hard on the farm, and were surrounded by many books which the children were encouraged to read. The Walker family helped to found a school on their property, and Marys older sisters were teachers at the school. Young Mary became involved with the growing womens rights movement. She may also have first met Frederick Douglass when he spoke in her home town. She also developed, from reading medical books which she read in her home, the idea that she could be a physician.   She studied for a year at Falley Seminary in Fulton, New York, a school which included courses in the sciences and health.   She moved to Minetto, New York, to take a position as a teacher, saving to enroll in medical school. Her family had also been involved in dress reform as one aspect of womens rights, avoiding the tight clothing for women that restricted movement, and instead advocating for more loose clothing.   As a teacher, she modified her own clothing to be looser in the waste, shorter in the skirt, and with pants underneath. In 1853 she enrolled in Syracuse Medical College, six years after  Elizabeth Blackwells medical education. This school was part of a movement towards eclectic medicine, another part of the health reform movement and conceived of as a more democratic approach to medicine than the traditional allopathic medical training.   Her education included traditional lectures and also interning with an experienced and licensed physician. She graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in 1855, qualified as both a medical doctor and as a surgeon. Marriage and Early Career She married a fellow student, Albert Miller, in 1955, after knowing him from their studies.   The abolitionist and Unitarian Rev. Samuel J. May performed the marriage, which excluded the word obey. The marriage was announced not only in local papers, but in  The Lily,  the dress reform periodical of Amelia Bloomer. Mary Walker and Albert Mmiller opened a medical practice together. By the late 1850s she became active in the womens rights movement, focusing on dress reform. Some key suffrage supporters including Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucy Stone adopted the new style including shorter skirts with pants worn underneath. But the attacks and ridicule about clothing from the press and public began to, in the opinion of some suffrage activists, distract from womens rights.   Many went back to traditional dress, but Mary Walker continued to advocate for more comfortable, safer clothing. Out of her activism, Mary Walker added first writing and then lecturing to her professional life. She wrote and spoke about delicate matters including abortion and pregnancy outside of marriage. She even wrote an article on women soldiers. Fighting for a Divorce In 1859, Mary Walker discovered that her husband was involved in an extramarital affair.   She asked for a divorce, he suggested that instead, she also find affairs outside their marriage. She pursued a divorce, which also meant that she worked to establish a medical career without him, despite the significant social stigma of divorce even among those women working for womens rights.   Divorce laws of the time made a divorce difficult without the consent of both parties. Adultery was grounds for a divorce, and Mary Walker had amassed evidence of multiple affairs including one that resulted in a child, and another where her husband had seduced a woman patient.   When she still could not get a divorce in New York after nine years, and knowing that even after the granting of a divorce there was a five year waiting period until it became final, she left her medical, writing, and lecture careers in New York and moved to Iowa, where divorce was not so difficult.   Iowa In Iowa, she was at first unable to convince people that she was, at the young age of 27, qualified as a physician or teacher.   After enrolling in school to study German, she discovered they did not have a German teacher. She participated in a debate, and was expelled for participating.   She discovered that New York state would not accept an out of state divorce, so she returned to that state. War When Mary Walker returned to New York in 1859, war was on the horizon. When the war broke out, she decided to go to war, but not as a nurse, which was the job the military was recruiting for, but as a physician. Known for:  among the earliest woman physicians; first woman to win the Medal of Honor; Civil War service including commission as an army surgeon; dressing in mens clothing Dates:  November 26, 1832 - February 21, 1919 Print Bibliography Harris, Sharon M.  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹Dr. Mary Walker, An American Radical, 1832 - 1919  . 2009.Synder, Charles McCool.  Dr. Mary Walker: The Little Lady in Pants.  1974.   More About Mary Walker: Profession:  PhysicianAlso known  as:  Dr. Mary Walker, Dr. Mary E. Walker, Mary E. Walker, Mary Edwards WalkerOrganizational Affiliations: Union ArmyPlaces: New York, United StatesPeriod: 19th century